A Holiday Song Celebration USA TOUR DATES

NOV 17th ORPHEUM THEATRE presented by Citizens Bank  Sunday 8:00 pm BOSTON, M.A.

I am posting this report on Behalf of Laurene Kelly who attended this concert...

IL DIVO: A HOLIDAY SONG CELEBRATION
OPENING NIGHT
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, USA
Orpheum Theatre
17 November 2019
Report by Laurene

Tonight I saw the opening performance of this year's short USA Christmas tour, the first in 10 years. The venue is a fairly ancient theater in central Boston with very narrow seats and not much leg room. My first row seat was so close to the built-out stage that I could not move my legs at all. I could not see the musicians except for the head of one violinist and the head and torso of the conductor. This was the same conductor who's been conducting the Timeless tour. He's a young Mexican. And I think his name is Jose, but somebody can correct me, please.

The show started just a little bit late at 8:10 p.m. . There was a very short overture of some Christmas-themed music, and then Il Divo made their entrance so far upstage that all I could see was some heads bobbing along.

The first song was O Holy Night, pretty standard stuff, and as soon as the boys moved downstage a bit I could see them from the waist up and spent my time observing their wardrobes.

Carlos was in his usual all-black suit with a white-and-black pocket square. David was in a black tuxedo, and the jacket was made of fabric with a snakeskin jacquard weave. Sebastian was in a white tuxedo jacket with a beautifully ornamented black sequin applique on the left lapel. Urs the clothes horse was in a white tuxedo jacket whose lapels were trimmed in silver lame. He wore a black shirt with a white stock tie attached.

The next song was Silent Night.

Next followed a little chat by David welcoming the audience to an evening dedicated to -- and he sang this part -- "the most wonderful time of the year," which drew some comments from the other three standing behind him which I could not quite hear, and he gave "thanks to my voice teachers."

A Child is Born

Rejoice was lovely to hear again, but I did miss the "Divo playing guitar" element.

David introduced the next song by telling us it was a very old hymn composed by a monk whose name I cannot remember right now, then arranged more recently by Cesar Franck.

Panis Angelicus

Urs took the next chat to tell us they were now going to do some songs which were technically not Christmas songs.

Hallelujah was next, and there was so much reverb or echo that it sounded like someone was talking back from offstage. Urs's high-pitched alleluuuuuuya got lots of woo-hoos from the audience. Again I found myself missing the Divo-playing-guitar element.

Next chat was from David, who told us that they had decided that each of them would share a childhood Christmas memory with us tonight.

David recalled that in December of 1982, when he was 8 years old and his family had just moved to Denver, his parents decided they would all get in the station wagon -- David, his parents, and two sisters -- and drive across the country to visit his grandparents unannounced. On the way his mother taught the three kids a bunch of Christmas carols. When they arrived they wrapped themselves up completely in hats and scarves, rang the doorbell, and sang Silent Night. The grandparents were very puzzled by the stray carol singers and were looking for cookies to hand them, until everybody unmasked, and then his grandparents burst into tears. David said that this experience really taught him the value of family.

Mama

Adagio This got a big reaction from the audience and a partial standing ovation. It's been quite a while since they've done this one, and I was very glad to hear it.

The next chat was from Carlos, and I don't remember how it started, but Seb interrupted him to say "Have you been naughty? Some things never change."

Next they told some really bad Christmas jokes.
What do you call a naughty kid who doesn't believe? Rebel Without a Claus.
The rest of them don't bear repeating lol

Urs talked about his childhood Christmases in Switzerland, when everything was covered with an icing of snow. The kids would ride their sleds on the snow packed roads. On Christmas Eve his family went to midnight mass, and his grandmother pulled him to church on a sled.

He then mentioned that Seb lives in Los Angeles and that, although Urs considers his home to be Europe, he had just acquired a property in Los Angeles. Then he recited the introduction to White Christmas, which you don't often hear sung, but which includes a reference to the grass being green in Beverly Hills and the singer wishing for a white Christmas.

White Christmas

Over the Rainbow was next. This is my favorite. If they did only this one song, I would still go home happy. I think their arrangement is one of the three best I've heard. There were some gasps around the room when Urs sang the opening line.

The next chat was from Seb, who talked about his childhood Christmas with family, music, and food. He and his young cousin would eat as much as they could and then try to stay awake to see Santa Claus. But they never seemed to manage it. They would wake up and had missed Santa. They would go to church and he would sing the hymns as loud as he could and embarrass his family.

Ave Maria

Somewhere

Carlos talked about Santa Claus and three stages of life: 1, you believe in Santa Claus; 2, you don't believe in Santa Claus; 3, you look like Santa Claus.

He said, "When I was a kid 20 years ago" -- guffawing from the guys behind him -- "30 years ago" -- and Seb says "plus tax!" -- he and his young friends would be building snowmen in the backyard. (This must have been when he lived in Germany.) And at some point his grandfather would call him in and say "Carlos, come and sing for us."

Carlos was shy about singing when he was a kid and it would always give him shivers. "Today I'm not shy anymore, but I still feel the tingles looking at YOU!"

You Raise Me Up

You'll Never Walk Alone

The Lord's Prayer

In the final chat David said that we were nearing the end of the show but he had one more story for us. In the early days of Il Divo when they established a fan Forum -- (I couldn't control myself and shouted yes!) -- fans met there and decided to wear red scarves to the concerts so they could find each other. He said that for him the red scarves came to symbolize family and gave him faith. "Faith is a wonderfully high vibrational state."

O Come All Ye Faithful

ENCORE

Amazing Grace

Alegria (Beethoven Ode to Joy)

The audience stood for most of the last two numbers, and I finally got a look at Urs's shoes. I had been hoping for the black, red, and green Christmas ones he got a while back, but he was wearing white patent leather oxfords with silver glitter saddles on them.

The show ended at 9:40 p.m., so it was 1 hour and 30 minutes exactly. No intermission. I enjoyed it very much although I had hoped for a couple of new songs that perhaps had not been recorded yet.
Seb was a little unsteady and lost his place a couple times, but I think he'll be fine from here on out. Everybody else, perfection as usual. It wouldn't be an il Divo concert if you didn't have to keep a close eye on Seb, now would it?

Looking forward to the next show, Providence, Rhode Island, and wondering whether they will change the setlist around a bit.